Zomato shutters Intercity Legends two years after launch; founder Deepinder Goyal cites lack of product market fit

Deepinder Goyal, CEO of Zomato, confirmed the closure in a tweet on X

Zomato has announced the immediate shutdown of Intercity Legends, which offered iconic dishes from 10 cities across India to other parts of the country. The service has been discontinued after the company temporarily paused the service and restarted with a few tweaks, to make orders more profitable, in July.

Deepinder Goyal, co-founder and group CEO of Zomato, confirmed the closure in a tweet on X, stating, "After two years of trying and not finding product-market fit (PMF), we have decided to shut down the service with immediate effect."

Intercity Legends has been shut at a time when as Zomato is diversifying into various other adjacent sectors to drive up revenue and consolidate its position in the market. Intercity Legends, originally debuted in 2022, didn't initially have any minimum order threshold but was introduced a minimum order value of Rs 5,000 to enhance profitability. Despite that, the project made no financial sense to Zomato.

This is yet another service that Zomato has discontinued after other pilots in the past. The Gurugram-based company discontinued Xtreme, a logistics service that allowed merchants to send and receive small parcels as it did not yield desired results.

When the intercity service was first launched the company was bullish on the offering. "A jewel hides in every nook and corner of India. With over a 100 airports and a rich spread of the most iconic dishes that India has to offer, the sky is the limit to how big Intercity Legends can become," the company had said in a blogpost.

"So sit back and enjoy a legendary meal. After all, it takes a legend to know a legend!"

Meanwhile, Zomato is spending money and time on other divisions. On August 21, Zomato said it will acquire Paytm's entertainment and ticketing business for Rs 2,048 crore in an all-cash deal as the food delivery giant looks to expand its presence in the 'going-out' segment, while the embattled fintech major seeks to focus on its core financial services offerings.

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